May River Road crash victim ‘a loss already felt’

Heather Kerwick stood outside the condo and looked out over the water at the red-and-white striped lighthouse.

“I love my life. I love my job,” her co-worker Kellie Linder remembers her saying.

Kerwick had joined Linder’s family at their condo for Saturday’s third round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. The women worked together at Hotel Indigo in Savannah.

Kerwick’s job meant she commuted from Bluffton along the winding two-lane roads that eventually empty onto U.S. 17, carrying her into Georgia, across the Talmadge Bridge and into the Hostess City of the South.

She’d recently taken over Hotel Indigo’s social media accounts and guest correspondence, according to Linden, the hotel’s general manager and Kerwick’s boss. She was becoming “the voice of the hotel.” She was never late for work.

“Everybody knew at 10 a.m. (Wednesday) when she wasn’t here,” Linder said, “something was wrong.”

Kerwick, 25, died that morning in a two-vehicle crash on May River Road. The S.C. Highway Patrol said her vehicle drifted left of center and collided with a pickup truck. On Thursday the accident was still being investigated, said Lance Cpl. Matthew Southern.

Kerwick was not wearing a seat belt, Southern said, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash cut short a promising career in hospitality. Kerwick had worked her way up at the Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort, where she’d assisted with a facilities renovation and become executive assistant to the general manager.

The South had become her adopted home, and in early 2016, she took the job in Savannah to build her resume.

And help open a hotel.

A chance to grow

Gabrielle Kerwick said her older sister fell in love with the beach and the South when they visited their aunt’s house on Tybee Island.

There was a TV in the downstairs room but no cable. Just their aunt’s collection of Shirley Temple movies. The girls would stay up late and watch them.

Heather Kerwick grew up in Fredon, N.J., a town with “one stoplight” and “more cows than people,” her sister said. “Country.”

When it came time to look at colleges, Heather Kerwick focused her search in the South. She ended up at University of South Carolina Beaufort. She finished a four-year business degree in three years, her younger sister said. She worked at a bank, then at the Omni.

Theo Schofield, general manager at the Omni and Kerwick’s former boss, said she helped him adjust to the area when he moved here in February 2015.

“She knew everyone on (Hilton Head Island), in Bluffton,” Schofield said. “I think she was just really out in the community. You don’t always see that from someone her age.”

Kerwick worked at the Omni for three years before the Savannah opportunity came along. She struggled with whether to leave Hilton Head, said her boyfriend, Reggie Holland.

“You know Heather,” he said, “she’s always about moving forward. ... She eventually wanted to be, of course, general manager of a four- or five-star hotel. She was debating on leaving (the) Omni. Fought with it for two weeks.”

Kerwick liked her team at the Omni. She had yearly guests who’d send her flowers and letters between stays. And she had friends on the island.

But the path to advancement led to Savannah.

“In hospitality, you have to live and grow,” said Shannon Sipling, Kerwick’s friend, former roommate and onetime coworker at the Omni. “You stay in one spot for three to five years before you have to move on, before you have to grow. That’s just hospitality. It was a good resume item with her opening a new hotel.”

‘The person she is’

Linder knew Kerwick was talented.

Her daughter had worked with Kerwick at the Omni. Linder saw in Kerwick a strong woman ready for the next step. So, she hired her.

“Heather was an integral part of the pre-opening and grand opening team,” Linder said. “Her loss is already being felt.”

Hotel Indigo opened in March — 252 rooms in Savannah’s downtown historic district. Linder had recently spoken to Kerwick’s mother, who said her daughter was overjoyed to be part of the experience.

“It’s just the person she is,” Gabrielle Kerwick said about her sister’s love of hospitality. “It’s in her nature to help people. … And I think her love for South Carolina and the beach and everything, she just wanted to bring people there.”

On Wednesday, Linder and her employees had gone ahead with their morning staff meeting, without Heather.

During the meeting they learned about the crash. Linder cut the gathering short.

On Thursday, Linder visited Kerwick’s desk. On the desk was Kerwick’s planner. In the planner was a note:

“It’s going to be a great year!”

Linder put down the planner. She sat down at the desk.

And cried.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 5:35 PM with the headline "May River Road crash victim ‘a loss already felt’."